Ontario man dies in California skydiving accident

PERRIS, Calif. — A U.S. coroner says an experienced Canadian skydiver may have been attempting a risky manoeuvre when he died after landing near a southern California parachuting centre.

Michael Ungar, 32, of Aylmer, Ont., died Tuesday afternoon at Perris Valley Skydiving after landing hard at the Riverside County sport parachuting base about 113 kilometres southeast of Los Angeles

His death was the sixth skydiving fatality at the popular Southern California facility in the past 15 months.

Ungar, who was injured during a difficult aerial manoeuvre, landed in a shallow pond at 2:01 p.m. and friends pulled him out of the water, the Riverside County coroner and Perris police said in a news release Wednesday.

Ungar’s parachute was open and he may have been attempting an aggressive “swooping” manoeuvre involving a high-speed dive to skim over the ground before landing.

Skydiving centre manager Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld said the Canadian sometimes worked as an instructor at Skydive Hollister on California’s Central Coast.

Ungar, who had 2,000 jumps to his credit, was visiting the Perris Valley area and had rarely, if ever, jumped at the facility, Brodsky-Chenfeld said.

Ungar spent the past two years working as an instructor at the Niagara Skydive Centre in southern Ontario.

“I think he’s been jumping for about eight years,” said owner Tim Grech.

A witness who saw Ungar’s last landing said his parachute was open and he was circling as he neared the ground.

Jack Nix of Fontana told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that he knew the skydiver was in trouble when he didn’t pull up or turn his body upright from parallel to the ground.

U.S. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the air safety regulator only investigates such deaths to determine whether the parachute was packed properly by a certified packer.

Perris is regarded as one of the world’s foremost facilities and has more than 140,000 jumps per year, Brodsky-Chenfeld said, which is about 5 per cent of the 3 million jumps nationally in the United States.